With Halloween Havoc on the horizon, Nitro is live with a lot of big matches including Chris Benoit's debut, a WCW TV title match, and Ric Flair and Sting taking on Anderson and Pillman. Flair asked for Sting's help on WCW Pro over the weekend, and Sting, like the gullible fool, accepts, hoping that Flair will not screw with him for once.
Opening action is the WCW World Television Title on the line as Diamond Dallas Page defends against Johnny B. Badd. Regardless of the outcome of this match, they'll still face off at Halloween Havoc. So, you know, expect screwery.
And wouldn't you guess it? Page smashes Badd in the back of the head with the TV title, essentially throwing this match out before the bell even rang. Badd is completely knocked out, while the Diamond Doll looks on upset at Page's actions. He grabs the Badd Blaster, covers the knocked out Badd and shoots the spooter.
Good heel work by Page, giving us some solid build to the actual match at Halloween Havoc. Makes sense too. Why would Page want to put his gold in jeopardy now instead of at Halloween Havoc? And having him solve the problem through scumbag means fits the character perfectly.
Up next, it's Eddy Guerrero vs the debuting Chris Benoit. Arm drag by Benoit early on. Headlock by Eddy who follows with a shoulder block and a dodge and a wristlock takedown, getting in some covers. Benoit counters with a hurricanrana, but Eddy comes right back with a headscissors that takes Benoit to the outside. Diving cross body from Eddy to the outside on Benoit. Benoit reverses a suplex to the outside, but the counters leads to both men tumbling outside.
Eddy throws Benoit into the steel post and immediately nails him with a clothesline to the back of the head, injuring his own hand in the process. Benoit brings Eddy back into the ring and hits a back suplex, dropping Guerrero on his arm. Benoit begins to work on Eddy's arm, whipping him into the buckle and hitting a hard dropkick to the injured limb. Northern Lights Suplex by Benoit, dropping Eddy again on the arm, followed by a snap suplex. Elbow to the back of the head of Eddy. Benoit tries a tilt-a-whirl suplex, but Eddy counters, eventually landing a springboard tornado DDT, despite the weakened arm. Cover, but Benoit is too close to the ropes.
Short arm clothesline by Benoit stops Eddy's momentum. He tries a hammerlock suplex, but Eddy escapes. Benoit is right back on him, yelling at Eddy to get up. Hard chops to the chest from both men, but Benoit is the dominant of the two. Headbutt by Benoit followed by a hard body slam. Benoit jaw jacks the crowd before focusing back on Guerrero. Arm drag and a top wristlock by the Canadian Crippler, but Eddy recovers with a hurricanrana using hte ropes. Cover again, but Benoit is too close to the ropes once more.
Side suplex by Eddy, who is still favoring the arm. He lands a hard brainbuster and goes up to the top for the frog splash, but Benoit gets the knees up, crashing Eddy's landing. Hard powerbomb by Benoit, who covers for a close two. Benoit argues with the ref, then tries again, but Eddy gets a sunset flip. Eddy punches with the bad arm and injures himself, allowing Benoit to get a full nelson suplex for the three.
An absolutely awesome match. Exactly what I was hoping for when I heard Benoit and Eddy were wrestling on this episode. Lots of great moves, fast offense, great selling work by Eddy with the bad arm, and some amazing technical stylings, the likes of which you definitely don't see in this era's WWF. I was hoping for something great, and it certainly delivered. I'm still a bit shaky on wanting to watch Benoit matches, but this makes me more ready to watch them and enjoy.
Mean Gene is in the ring. He shills the hotline, mentioning the Shawn Michaels parking lot assault. He introduces The Giant and "The Taskmaster" Kevin Sullivan for this week's interview. He says that Hogan was the one who created him. We actually get Hogan chants this week as the crowd here is more pro-Hulkamania. He brings up Hogan's evil side, and that while he's the personification of evil, Hogan still has a shred of good left in him. He says the hulkamaniacs have bought into the winning ways of Hogan, but after Detroit, the kids will be the children of the Dungeon of Doom. Giant promises that he's going to try to push Hogan off the roof in the monster truck match, then he'll drag Hogan into the ring and drag him out of the ring. He paws at Okerlund's face as we end the segment.
Disco Fever! Disco Fever! Disco Inferno is back again with his weekly interruption. This time before the upcoming Meng vs Hacksaw Jim Duggan match. He quickly runs away when Meng's music hits.
An exchange of fists between both men throughtout the majority of this match until Meng gets control. He goes for an elbow drop, but misses. Duggan whips Meng into the ropes, which Meng tries a slingshot, but again misses. Clothesline by Duggan who gets the crowd energized. Big body slam by Hacksaw, who plays to the crowd, only to eat a boot to the face. Meng puts the spile into the throat of Duggan, earning him the win. An okay brawl that did a decent job in building how much of a threat Meng is to Randy Savage at Halloween Havoc.
Emo Hogan and Jimmy Hart are addressing the "manioids". Was he taking those in 1992? He says the things that what now it's time to deal with family business, as only "Don Corleone" Hulk Hogan can. He says the Giant hasn't looked him in the eyes yet, not felt the true powers of Hulkamania, a power that makes promoters fall to their knees. He talks about the Giant burning trees in the forest like some sort of Captain Planet villain, then goes in to what I can only explain as a very intense massage that the "big, stinky giant" gave the Hulkster. He promises to beat the Giant in both the monster truck sumo match and the actual wrestling match. He's gonna bury The Giant in the Motor City alongside his father. Andre was cremated and his ashes scattered in North Carolina, idiot!
It's main event time up next. A tag match with Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman taking on Ric Flair and his unlikely partner in the WCW United States Champion Sting. However, Sting appears to have vanished as the bell rings and only Flair is in the ring taking on his two foes. Despite that, Flair does a good job early on, working on both Arn and Pillman. Pillman throws Flair to the outisde, but Ric is quick to chop Arn and throw Pillman into the barricade. Flair styles and profiles as Anderson and Pillman try to regroup.
Tag to Arn as the former horsemen lock up. Chops in the corner by Flair. He goes for a whip, but Arn comes back with an elbow to the back of the head. Knee drop is turned into a figure four. Pillman goes for the dive, but Flair avoids and locks Pillman in the figure four, until Arn rakes the eyes. Flair recovers, getting an ax handle to the head of Double A. Kick to the head by Pillman and a spinebuster by Arn. Sting finally shows up as Flair gets back dropped. Pillman antagonizes the Stinger as the heels double team Flair.
A chop off from Flair and Pillman is won by Flyin' Brian who follows up with a back drop. Flair avoids a dropkick and finally tags in Sting. Hot tag to Sting who is a house of fire, taking out both Arn and Pillman with facebusters. Stinger splashes to both Arn and Pillman fikkiwed by some clotheslines and elbows. Arn and Pillman try to recover, but Sting lands clotheslines, sending Arn out. He follows by throwing Pillman groin first into the ropes. This leads to a double count out and a dominant win for Sting and Flair in a hot match that does give some good build to the more definitive match at Halloween Havoc. Good story work with Sting still concerned with trusting Flair hence his trepidation.
Mean Gene is in the ring with Sting and Flair as Sting says that he didn't think he could trust Flair, so he just stayed in the back early on until he realized how much guts Ric had. He completely trusts Flair for Halloween Havoc and holds the hand of the Nature Boy. Why do I feel the need to post a picture of Admiral Ackbar for the Stinger right now?
Another excellent episode of Nitro this week. Logical booking all around. Hogan spirals further into insanity while Sting seems to be setting himself up for a downfall by working with the dirtiest player in the game. Speaking of dirty, more logical booking in DDP disposing of Johnny B. Badd quick by sneaky means. But the icing of this cake was the excellent match between Eddy Guerrero and Chris Benoit which showed the in-ring talents of both men perfectly. Two of my all time faves once upon a time reminding me of why that was the case. Overall, as a continuing point towards Halloween Havoc, Nitro's momentum remains strong, earning this show an A- rating.
WHO WON THE WAR WEEK #6: NITRO